Does the value we place on things decrease based on how much we have of it?
There was a couple of things that I witnessed in the last week that triggered this thought. The more I thought about it, I started to see a pattern that crossed over many other areas of life. Some of the things I thought about were:
If only 100 babies were capable of being born every year, would we consider abortion?
If you only saw another person once a year, would you walk past them and not stop to talk?
When a painter, a musician or an actor dies. Their works of art all of sudden become valuable because we know there will never be anything new.
Why is the grass always greener on the other side?
The myth of how rare diamonds are and how that creates not only high prices but also an attitude of how we feel about them.
squirrels, armadillos, insects, little Florida lizards, they’re all over the place and when we see one dead, it’s not a big deal.
These are just some random thoughts that were going through my mind this past week that I wanted to share. What do you think? What in your everyday life are you abundantly blessed with, but maybe take for granted?
Hey Dave. I think I know what you’re saying. I think volume is an important factor. To an extent (with some things – *not* applicable to everything you mentioned!), the more we have, the less we *have to* care, just to be able to carry on and get anything done.
I mean, like the question of if we only saw one person per year, would we walk past and not talk to them? Probably most people would answer “no”, we wouldn’t walk right past.
However, in a world where we’re bombarded constantly with interruptions and we have contact with soooooo many people, if we *don’t* often “keep walking”, then the bills won’t get paid, the dog won’t get walked, the dinner won’t be on the table until midnight.
So what do we do with overload? (Other than tuning some things and peopel out sometimes, creating lines of demarcation.)
It seems callous, and even unfair, or unrealistic/arbitrary. But with so much coming at us (material goods, sensory stimulation, interruptions), it’s sometimes hard to prioritize.
There have to be dividing lines – somewhere. I think? What do you think?
I don’t think that necessarily applies to your questions about artist’s artwork, or the value of diamonds, though.
perhaps it is an accidental by-product of my chronology(is that really a word…if not, i like it!), but i am thrilled to share that i HAVE become very deliberate about NOT taking the abundance in my life for granted. there is more of an awareness of the randomness of the rhythmns of life ( “all things must pass…”), & more of an acceptance…no…make that a daily celebration…of everything that is around us at the moment.it isthe realization that contentment IS the journey, not just the goal!